Addicted To Blogs

My blog list is growing, and growing, and growing! I am seriously addicted to reading blogs now. It used to be magazines, but I've "graduated." I'm almost afraid to see who my followers and those I follow also follow. I get overwhelmed easily, and when my brain is on overload, I shut down. It's a sick obsession, I tell you! Every morning, I go to my dashboard and read all the updates. When I get home from work, I do the same thing again!

Thank you friends and followers for introducing me to all these wonderful, exciting reads!

Speaking of exciting, head over to TheLostBoys who's having a giveaway!

Something New

Hey All,

This is a long post, so grab a coffee, tea, beer, whatever you drink at 7am EST! I’ve blogged briefly a few weeks ago about Art Fire, a new online selling venue for artisans (I like this word so much better than “crafter”.) One of my goals for the year was to become more involved with Art Fire building up my store and becoming an active member of the Art Fire community. I’m happy to report that I’ve actually done that. That in itself is a miracle being the lazy ass that I am. I’ve even joined two Guilds (the Etsy equivalent of a Team.) I am now an official member of Blog Fire and We Love Art Fire. Isn't Blog Fire the coolest name? I really love Art Fire because it’s new, it’s fresh, and I feel a true sense of community there. For every account that is opened, they plant a tree for the environment, and if you refer at least 10 artisans to open a store on Art Fire, you get a free ride (i.e., no fees) for LIFE! You can join at the basic level for free-no listing fees and no commissions, however, you’re only limited to listing 10 items, and you’re listings are limited (no categories, only 4 pics….) Or, you can sign up for the VERIFIED status and pay a flat monthly fee of $7.00 for life (if you’re among the first 5,000 to join). With the verified status, you can list as many items and as often as you’d like with no listing or commission fees, unlike Etsy. Another plus: you get shop statistics via Google Analytics. I recently closed my candle store there because I’m not really making candles as much as I used to, and I got an actual e-mail from the president of Art Fire asking me why I closed my shop, and if there was anything wrong that they did. How impressive is that? Okay, you can play devil’s advocate and say, well, yeah, he would contact you because they’re a fledgling site who really can’t afford to lose members at this point. BUT, the fact still remains that he took the time to personally e-mail me, and it wasn’t some lame auto-response either. That’s what I call customer service!

With all that being said, I’m starting a new feature on my blog called Chillin’ With…. and I’ll be spotlighting a seller from Art Fire. The spotlight will consist of a series of questions about the artisan and their artistry. My intent is to generate some positive buzz for both the artisan and Art Fire. If you are an artisan on Art Fire and would like to be featured, please leave a comment in this post, and I’ll contact you with the details. The first artisan will be featured on 1/23/08.

To join, click my link, and I’ll send you a nice token of my appreciation!

Stuff On My Mind Like: Keep Your Blog Fresh!

What do I mean by that? If you want people to follow your blog, then post more than once a week or month-seriously. I love to follow blogs with content-meaning the blogger posts at least 2-3 times a week or more. Not only is it a way to reach out to your followers, but it will attract new ones. There are so many great blogs out there that I'd love to follow, but when I check them out, they haven't posted since August! Come on! You just lost one! I do, however, believe in returning the favor (you know, follow me, I'll follow you.) One of my goals for 2009 is to blog no less than 3 times a week. I'm also going to be hosting giveaways-with a catch (more details coming in early January.) I'm off now to play with my new camera and plan my blog topics for the next week. Yeah, I actually plan my posts. I am, after all, a former Elementary Education major. Can you imagine me as your kid's teacher? Nope? That's why I'm now an Operations Specialist for a bank....

The Last Day!!!

(Here's a pic of my weekend profits)

I have never been so glad to see November 30th in my life! I made a personal challenge to myself that I'd blog every day for the month of November being that it's National Blog Month or something like that. Unless I'm getting paid to be a professional blogger, there's no way I could do it every single day!

In other sad news, my Black Friday sale has been a total bust! I guess the economy has taken a bigger toll than I imagined. I thought handmade would be the answer, but I guess I was wrong. Yeah, I'm more than a little disappointed, but you know what? I'm not going to let poor sales deter me. I'm still here, and I'm going to keep pushing on. I was reading an interesting thread on Etsy about crafters undervaluing their goods just to make a sale, and it has really given me some things to think about.

Well, I'm going to take a few days off to rest my fingers and to concoct some meaningful blog posts. Congratulations to all the sellers who've had a successful weekend. I'll blog to ya'll soon!

Blogzilla-Day 7

It is not easy blogging every single day. I don't know how the pros do it. I guess it's easy when you have something relevant and interesting to blog about. I warned you in my first post that I might just babble for the sake of blogging. I think this may be one of those times.....

I'm making some upgrades to my website, The Soap Seduction-adding new sections, re-arranging categories. With the holidays fast approaching, I'm going to give it a more festive look. I've also decided to start promoting my personal site and not my Etsy shop as much. If I'm going to brand The Soap Seduction, then I have to give it its own identity. But Etsy is unbeatable when it comes to instant traffic. We'll see.....

And The Winner(s) Is......

Fooled ya!!! You already know Barack is the man! This post is about who the Suppliers of the Year are according to the annual poll at Saponifier Magazine. I'm going Blogzilla and watching MSNBC, so I'll do a quick rundown with a more detailed post later....


The top three overall faves:

1. Brambleberry
2. Elements Bath & Body
3. Southern Soapers

Top essential oil supplier:

1. Essential Oil University
2. Camden Grey
3. Brambleberry

Top herb supplier: (Do you say herb with a silent "h" like "irb" or hard "h" like her-b?)

1. Mountain Rose Herbs
2. San Francisco Herb Co.
3. Atlantic Spice Co.

Top supplier for general soap and cosmetic ingredients:

1. Soapers Choice
2. Wholesale Supplies Plus
3. Brambleberry and Lotioncrafter

Top soap mold supplier:

1. Milky Way Molds
2. Brambleberry
3. Upland Molds

One quick question: Is Bramberry on the take?? Just kidding. I'll be doing honorable mention in my next post which is no put down on the winners. Til then....

I've Been Tagged!

It's day two of Blogzilla!!!

I always read on other blogs about the blogger being tagged by another blogger. It's basically a "tell me a little about yourself" type of deal. It could be personal, random, trivial, whatever. Well, my buddy over at Milk and Cookeez tagged me. She's a follower of mine, and I never even knew she had a blog until she tagged me! How pathetic am I? Note to all you bloggers: Check out your followers-for good and bad!

Anyway, here are 7 revealing things about moi that I bet you didn't know:

1. I am a huge fan of the Polish singer Basia (One day, while in the south of France. My good friend, said I should hug an olive tree.....)


2. I usually root for the bad guy in the movie.


3. I sometimes polish my nails only to peel it off-usually with my teeth.


4. I wish I'd gone to a regular public high school with a track & field program. I'd be a much better runner. Well, I'd be a runner....


5. If I could do anything besides make soap and candles, I'd be a gourmet chef. But I'd probably be morbidly obese if I did though....


6. My porn name is Lacy Hobart (It's the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on-or something like that....)


7. I don't have 7 blogger friends to pass this fun game on to, so feel free to share amongst yourselves.....

Thanks MC!

It's National Blog Posting Month!!!

Betcha didn't know that huh? Well I didn't either til I read about it over at The Soap Bar. The premise is you blog every single day, including weekends, for the month of November. There's actually a ning group for it, but I'm going to try this on my own. I'm going to be blogging about any and everything. Some posts might make sense. Others, might make you go, "What the hell is she talking about??" That's the beauty and hilarity of it.

So stay with me as I turn into Blogzilla. I may be back later for another post.....

Happy Halloween

I never dress up for Halloween, but this year, I did!!! I had a blast and hope you did too.

Now, I'm going to eat some candy to offset all the imbibing I've done. Tomorrow we start power blogging. Stay tuned!!!

To Blog Or Not To Blog....That is the question!

Peace and blessings. I am the D.C. (Decadent Candlechick) and I happen to be a native of D.C. (Washington, that is.) This is my very first post, and I don't know what the heck I'm doing! Blog, blog, blog, they tell me, but what the heck do I talk about? I tend to babble for goodness sake! I stay glued to my laptop obsessing over my soap and candle sites sizing up the competition and wondering why other sites are more successful than mine. Coupled with the fact that I have a "real" job-one that actually pays the bills doesn't help either.

I've been making soaps and candles for a little over a year now. I am so psyched because I finally made a batch of cold processed soap that didn't look like a pile of dried vomit. While I love the ease and creativity of M&P soap (that's melt-n-pour for you non-soapers), I don't feel like like I can truly call myselt a legitimate soapmaker until I can honestly say I made a batch of usable cold processed soap (that's the combination of oils and lye for you non-soapers.) Here's my latest batch. Not bad huh? All that matters now is that it's usable and it smells good. I'm working on my swirling technique.

To all my fellow soapmakers: I need your opinion. To the first 5 soapmakers who reply to this post, I'll send a bar of this soap for your honest review. This soap is very "rustic." I didn't shape it all pretty or neaten the edges. I like it rough:-). The fragrance is Orchard from Brambleberry. It's not as strong as I'd like (maybe I didn't use enough,) and I'm not crazy about this scent in soap, but it smells heavenly in my body scrub recipe. I look forward to hearing from you!